After Hours
by Zurui Karasu
Summary: Two more than mildly inebriated Mazoku, a starry night on a rooftop of an unsuspecting inn, a bit of passive aggressive vengeance, a smidgen of blatantly fluffy shounen-ai, and a kiss (or two), it’s all good!


Author's Note: HAH!  More fluffy Gaav/Valnesh from Blacke Inke!  This little one shot was just a cute and very random idea I had one night whilst very bored!  It's pretty random but oh well!  I like it, read and review you loverly nice people you! ~ Blacke Inke

After Hours

The evening settling down on a small, humble tavern in an equally small and humble town was predictably dark and silent, or rather it would have been silent if a group of rowdy and particularly destructive Mazoku had decided to pay a different tavern a visit, but it was certainly quite dark.  The barkeeper kept a cheerful grin on his face and his tongue pinned painfully beneath his teeth as he flung countless mugs of his best and of course most expensive liquors at ridiculously over-sized sword point across the bar to the raucous crowd, and dared not point out even when his normal customers left with raised eyebrows that it had been closing time hours ago.  The Mazoku seemed quite content where they were, despite it all, and the poor bartender began to wonder as the hours past midnight dragged on, if he would ever see his darling wife and three children again.

The loudest of the group, he dutifully noted, seemed rather familiar, a tall imposing man with a bolt of flame red hair that reached beneath his knees, which almost matched the drunken hue of his cheeks as he flung an arm around the shoulders of a quiet, faceless man with one glowing red eye that flashed irritably as he pointed out ostentatiously that he simply did not know how to have fun.  A large-breasted, raspberry-haired woman was busy seducing his only remaining waiter, who looked pleadingly to him for help from a corner as a sullen man with pale greenish blue skin woefully drawled on through a heavily exaggerated tale of something to do with rabbits, or so the barkeep thought he remembered him mentioning.  There were several other distinctly evil looking characters in his beloved, "Sword in the Hand" bar and inn that night, but the only one he truly noticed was a fierce looking young man with sharp golden eyes, teal hair, and a horn jutting out from his forehead.  That Mazoku, he noted, had disappeared quite rapidly after the gang had burst in, and as he reached by request for another jug of his finest mulberry wine, was horrified to discover it too was missing and braced himself for the fury of the formerly despondent and reminiscing blue man.

Val took another swig of the fragrant mulberry wine bottle clutched firmly in his hands as a loud explosion rocked the inn beneath him and rolled his eyes with a sigh, leaning back into the cool shingles of the roof to gaze up into the sky.

"Hope they're all having a blast…" he muttered snidely to himself, setting the near empty container carefully beside him and crossing his arms over his chest.

He could still hear Kanzel moaning and groaning about bunnies, or socks or something similar in a broken and inebriated swagger, and the muffled shrieks of the poor waiter that were coming obviously through Mazenda's mouth before reaching his ears.  Saygram's voice had long ceased, and the general din of a few other servants he knew not quite as well as the rest had only gotten louder as they had chugged, swilled and otherwise engulfed what Val thought must have been the entire alcohol supply the inn stocked.  Rising above it all however, was Gaav's robust and booming voice and laughter, obviously far more than merely pleased with a recent victory over a small group of assassins that had been nearly impossible to dispatch of, and Val perked slightly as he remembered finally getting rid of them.  It had been Gaav's suggestion they stop in a town and celebrate, and everyone had agreed, but Val had grown weary of it almost immediately after the party had begun and all the local populace fled scared out of their wits back home.

The sullen, teal-haired Mazoku stole a melancholy glance to the ground as a shaft of golden light fell over the cobblestone path and the creak of the door echoed along with the muffled racket from within the tavern into the crisp night air, but paid it no heed.  Not even when the sounds of boots against the cold masonry and a joyous laughter sounded brightly over the dull chattering from inside and Gaav's distinct voice called his name once did he bother to look back to the street.

"Val!  Hey Val!  Where the hell did you go?" Gaav demanded amiably, sniggering at himself as he staggered slightly, "Vaaaal!  Where are you?  You're missin' everything!"

Val merely rolled his eyes again, ignored his master and mouthed the words again in a mocking tone, reaching for the bottle and tipping it vertically into his mouth to swill the remaining wine in a single gulp.  Gaav managed to right himself at least somewhat to stumble out into the street a few more steps, shield his eyes against the brightness of the full moon against the dark silhouette of the inn, and grin wolfishly as he noted the slender horned figure perched laconically atop the roof.

"Hey there you are!" he called, pointing victoriously, "What the hell are you doin' up there?"

Another roll of the eyes with a well placed, very audible snarl and Val turned away from Gaav, folding his arms bitterly across his chest as he flung the empty wine bottle as far and as violently as he could over his shoulder.  

It took Gaav a good moment or two after it smashed neatly over his head and sent him reeling backwards into the pavement to recover and find Val in his spinning vision.

"Ow!  Hey Val that hurt you know!" he laughed to the shadowy figure of his servant.

"Oh leave me alone!" he yelled downward with a sneer, "Don't you have a party or something to go back to?"

Gaav pondered intensely a moment or two before cracking a wry smile and laughing loudly once again before the flame-haired Mazoku's face fell as he gained only an agitated glower from Val atop his secluded rooftop retreat.

"Well duh, but I wanted you to be there!" Gaav called, his voice growing gentler and imploring, "Come on Val, come down and have some fun with us!  It'll be good for you!"

The teal-haired figure stole a final apologetic glance over his shoulder at the backlit and gleaming figure bathed in the warm, inviting golden firelight and closed his eyes, shaking his head as he pulled his knees protectively into his chest.

"That's ok…" he groused softly, "You go have fun, just don't forget me in the morning…"

"Val!  That's so damn stupid!" Gaav groaned loudly, wincing at the acerbic words, "Come on, come down and back inside with us!"

"I'm fine right where I am thank you!" came the incensed retort, laced with insolence and fury, and Gaav's jaw dropped in wonder as he watched the silhouetted shoulders tremble for just a moment in the silver moonlight and teal hair glinted as Val bowed his head across his knees.

"Val…  What's wrong?" he whispered to himself, brow furrowing in the wake of his former delight which was quickly replaced by a feeling of almost empathetic sorrow as he watched his companion brood and evade his gestures.

Gaav sighed deeply and waited just a moment longer, hoping that the downtrodden soul concealing himself from merriment, compatriots, and victory in favor of gulping expensive wine alone on a rooftop would heed his pleas for him to join in, but Val remained quite motionless and the demon dragon disappointedly began back toward the inn.  He stopped after a mere few paces, however, and narrowed his eyes upward into the brilliant light of the full blazing moon that had completely obscured Val from his vision beneath the overhanging roof tiles, grinned wryly, then swept back inside and slammed the door shut behind him.

A resounding chorus of cheers and a prominent terrified shriek from employees erupted from the drunken crowd as their beloved lord and master hurled himself inside the door, snatched the nearest few bottles of wine and executed a swift teleport all without stopping.  The only people who seemed to notice the dark lord disappearing into thin air after dramatically filching more of the highest quality brew they stocked, however, seemed to be the pale trembling keepers of the establishment who immediately blacked out as a surge of Mazoku descended upon the bar for another round.

Still within his own pleasant darkness, Val barely heard the small uproar from beneath him and cared very little, but when he felt the familiar fiery energy signal emerge from the astral plane with the familiar screech of energy, he raised his head with an incredulous look at the grinning Gaav who brandished two fresh bottles in either hand.

"Lord Gaav?  W-What are you-" he began in a tremulous voice, only to be loudly interrupted.

"You didn't really think I was going to let you sit up here feeling sorry for yourself or whatever all freaking night did you?" the brazen Mazoku swaggered brightly, and Val managed a brief smirk that died the instant it crossed his lips.

"I'm fine, really, I had something to drink already, I was down there a bit, it doesn't matter what I do does it?  You should stay with them!" he protested, raising an eyebrow as Gaav shrugged and thrust a gleaming emerald bottle in his direction with a broad and amicable beam.

Val accepted the vessel begrudgingly, but made no move to actually open it as his master settled onto his haunches with a loud groan beside him and flopped flamboyantly down to the shingled roof.

"I think I've had enough of them for tonight!  And besides, you look so damn sad and lonely, you shouldn't have to be up here moping by yourself!" the flame-haired Mazoku drawled pleasantly, genuine smile still plastered across his lips as he fumbled with the cork in his bottle.

"That's… Um…  Very kind of you Lord Gaav," Val began in a soft apologetic voice, pausing to contemplate opening his own wine, "But it really isn't necessary.  I'd feel awful if I knew you'd sacrificed an evening like this on account of-"

"Oh cut that self-pitying, subservient, formal crap and tell me what the hell is really eatin' you!" Gaav interrupted brashly and relatively suddenly with a sneer that melted swiftly away into almost compassion.

Val's eyes widened in shock and he lifted his formerly, and so mentioned, subserviently stooped head as he raised an eyebrow in Gaav's direction who only raised a bushy eyebrow encouragingly and tilted the wine bottle smoothly into his mouth.

"I-I…" the teal-haired Mazoku sputtered fretfully, "I don't really know…  Really…"

His brow furrowed in thought, and he bared a fang at the corner of his upturned lip contemplatively as his fingers finally decided that the rest of his body could benefit from a little more alcohol and pried the old, brittle cork from the mouth of his own bottle.

"That seems kinda stupid, doncha think?" Gaav asked loudly.

"No it isn't!  I mean, I know you wouldn't underst-" Val began to snap in response, but clapped his hands over his mouth as Gaav cast an utterly amused smirk in his direction.

"That was almost rude Val!" he chided, waggling a finger in the air as Val blanched and bowed his head so quickly the muscles in his neck protested.

"I am so sorry Lord Gaav, I meant no disrespect I-" the horned Mazoku gushed apologetically, wincing as Gaav turned laconically onto his side with a loud grunt and another deep swig of wine, then reached tenderly under his chin to raise his shimmering golden eyes to his.

"Hey, I already told you, can the formal shit and _talk_ to me!" chortled Gaav kindly, and released Val's chin in favor of his own as he rested an elbow attentively on the rooftop, "Now come on, tell me what's wrong…"

The same smile flashed across Val's lips once more and he managed to echo a fond chuckle from his master, still keeping his head low and eyes fixated on anything but the red-headed form lounging so nonchalantly beside him as he finally brought the bottle to his mouth and took a careful, if not desperate and painstakingly controlled sip of wine.

"It's just that…  Uh…  Well, never mind, you wouldn't want to listen to it, I won't subject you to my stupid pathetic little issues…" he groused in response, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment.

Gaav snorted loudly at the comment, and drained his flask of nearly all of its contents in one gulp and clumsily smacked his forlorn minion harder than he meant to across the arm which forced Val to jump in shock and snap his eyes open again.

"Aw come on, you've got my attention, spill it!  I promise and swear to everything unholy in this world I'll listen this time!" the demon dragon swaggered sarcastically, only to gain a shadow of a vehement snarl from the youth perched beside him.

"It's nothing!  Forget I even said anything," he began, but with a cautious flick of his sight into Gaav's glaring and expectant midnight blue irises, sighed deeply and finally relented, "Fine…  I'm not fine, it isn't nothing…  I-I don't…  I don't understand…"

Val winced in anguish at his own admittance and feigned an irresistible fascination and need to watch the stars and clouds wheel overhead and taking several desperate gulps of alcohol which burned pleasantly down his throat as if already numbing emotions.  Gaav was more inclined to stare incredulously and wide-eyed as a thick silence broken only by a soft and intrusive breeze rustling the leaves of the trees circling the tiny stead they sat above settled over them.

"What?" the Demon Dragon finally blurted dumbly, blinking as Val growled deep in his throat.

"I don't understand why the hell I'm still here…" the golden-eyed creature irately sibilated back, attention still fixated stubbornly on the black velvet sky and the twinkling points of light that had never seemed so far away.

"Well that's easy, I found you, made you a Mazoku, and you survived!  You're in my debt, you serve me, that was the deal!" Gaav chirped happily with a triumphant finger drunkenly in the air.

"That is _not what I meant…" barked Val shortly, tearing his eyes away from the heavens violently and training them on a rather bewildered and inebriated looking Demon Dragon King as he elaborated, "I feel like I've cheated fate…  Like it's one big fluke of existence that I was the one you found that day and I should have died with the rest of them!"_

In a brief, terrible instant an enraged fist sailed with deadly accuracy through the air and nearly missed the flushed face of Gaav before he leapt back surprisingly reflexively for the sheer profusion of alcoholic concoctions he had consumed that evening and barely noticed the chips of red tile hurtle into his person as they shattered beneath Val's fury.  A deep quiescence descended like a veil rapidly as the duo remained frozen in their respective positions, neither daring to move for fear of a second outburst, a reprimand, anything that would bring them briefly in contact with one another, and the only possible solution to break them from the agitating stalemate was Gaav's baffled croak as he attempted vainly to articulate anything he could.

"Val…" was all the struck Mazoku whispered in a mixture of awe and shock.

Pulling his hand into his body carefully and cradling it, Val looked downward and closed his eyes and attempted several times to force his voice from his throat, ignoring the beads of crimson blood welling across his pale flesh.

"I came up here, because I didn't want to interrupt…  Because I have never felt like…  Like I deserved to be a part of all this…" he whispered hoarsely, "I feel like I don't belong there with all of you, celebrating a victory to protect a master I only serve because it was a choice between you or death…"

Gaav was silent in the ebony cloak that night provided, a thousand emotions drifting barely noticeably across his chiseled features, and by the time Val gathered enough gumption and air to speak, his seemingly perpetual grin had faded from his lips.

"I'm sorry…" he muttered flatly, "I shouldn't have said that to you…"

"Not at all!" Gaav retorted earnestly, "Actually, I'm glad you did, but I don't think you realize how lucky you are, Val."

The words sank deeply into Val's psyche as he raised his head bewilderedly and the two Mazoku's eyes met at last, coiling Gaav's lips mercifully again into the amiable grin he wore on a daily basis and furrowing his companion's brow deeply in thought.

"Lucky?  How?" Val queried skeptically.

"Well for starters, how about you're still alive?" Gaav retorted, "You know, not dead, living, existing in this plane, still able to breathe and function among the people of this world and-"

"Alright, alright, I get it!" snapped Val, cutting off his master and huffing loudly before he could continue.

"Uh, anyway, as I was saying," Gaav continued, clearing his throat loudly and raising himself erect and crossing his legs underneath him as he spoke, "this shitty outcast's existence of running and dodging spells and swords and assassins may not have been what you wanted, I'll acknowledge that, but at least you chose life over death, right?  There's something you need to understand Val, I'm a Mazoku, I'm a Dark Lord for Shabranigdo's sake, I don't go around just saving random dying people out of the goodness, which I truly hope there isn't any, of my heart, but you were different…  I…  I dunno, I guess I felt something for you, maybe I felt sorry for the pathetic little ancient who regretfully accepted death, maybe just seeing you there holding out to the last gods damned second made me so pissed at the world I thought, 'Hell, if I save this little brat then I'll _really have people hating me, and wouldn't they all just love to hate me more' but I just saw so much of what had happened to me happen all over again to someone else, I had to save you.  Oh sure, it was all for having an ally at first, but I meant what I said, that you were like me, and people like us deserve revenge, don't you think?"_

Val listened to the oddly sober sounding explanation as unwanted, superfluous tears pooled in his eyes and stung at them virulently, and keeping his vision trained mournfully on Gaav, wiped them away with the back of his hand and nodded solemnly and nearly invisibly as an answer.

"D-Do you…  Do you think I betrayed them?" he asked in a small, weak voice that softened Gaav's expression as he reached an arm out.  He stopped it swiftly, however, as if realizing exactly what he was nearly doing hovered apprehensively over his companion for just a single instant, but as his gleaming teal tresses caught the silver light of the moon and a single tear searing over the smoldering red scores in his ashen cheeks, he finally laid a tender hand on his back.

"Hell no…  Hell no, of course not Val!  You think you sold out?  That's bullshit!  Don't ever think that!" he assured him forcefully, keeping a wily smirk stretched wide across his face as Val looked up, "There is nothing wrong with doing whatever the hell you possibly can to survive and live!  And if there is, well then we're both screwed beyond all recognition!"

Gaav was elated to see the rarity of a smile from his forlorn companion, who blinked willfully the final tears from his eyes and drained his wine bottle in a single wide sweeping motion before sidling closer to the flame-haired dragon and setting an elbow affectionately on his shoulder.

"I suppose you're right, after all, tagging along with someone who's hated just as much as you are is better than just dying…" Val admitted with a chortle.

"Fuckin' _anything is better than just dying," Gaav added extravagantly, nudging Val fondly, though still overly vigorously, in his exposed and unguarded side with a forearm and casting him a puckish gleam out of the corners of his eyes.  Val rolled with the playful shove and laughed for the first time that evening, loudly and brightly, but it died down almost the moment it had begun, as the younger man grew solemn with drink and words he had been longing for seeming eons to say._

"Promise me we'll make them all pay…" the teal-haired Mazoku importuned suddenly, turning his head in Gaav's direction and leaning into him.

"Huh?  Who?" The Dark Lord asked vacantly, turning to look himself and finding Val's nose nearly brushing his, a pleasant dark rouge hue spread across his cheeks.

"Them…" his horned minion repeated softly as his eyes drooped drunkenly shut.

"Oh…" came the unintelligent retort, "Them…"

Val sniggered and let his arm drop heavily off Gaav's shoulder, which he swiftly, and exceptionally warily, replaced with his chin, wincing in terror as his master shifted uncertainly at first, but tacitly relented and allowed him to stay.

"The Golden Dragons, them…  I want each and every last one of them to feel a thousand times over what they did to us, promise me…" Val pleaded.

"I don't keep all my promises, Val," confessed Gaav sincerely.

"I know, and I don't give a damn, I just want to hear you say it," came the soft reply, to which the flame-haired dragon smirked and nodded.

"Alright then, I promise, we'll both make them pay!" he whispered close to Val's ear, then cupped a hand around his mouth and glared defiantly into the night sky, "You hear that you Golden scum?!  Val and I have swords with all your godsdamned names on them!"

His master shouted back to the night for him, raged against the blackness that consumed his life and bestowed it upon him at once, to something of light and dark that had betrayed both of them and given them both to each other, and Val smiled once more.

"And you!" the former ancient chimed in harshly, "Those Mazoku asses who think they're all high and mighty and still so damn afraid of just one, we've got your names on those swords too!"

Gaav and Val exchanged an amiable glance at each other as Gaav laughed brightly and tilted his head into Val's affectionately as the indifferent stars and moon continued to shine with their celestial silver light.

"That's the spirit Val!" Gaav chirped happily, turning back to the sky and shouting in a loud, clear, booming voice to those who had betrayed him, "You're all nothing but a bunch of decrepit, high-strung, pompous, warmongering sycophants who do nothing but sit around on your useless asses all day and order your pathetic little minions to perform perverse sexual favors for you!  And that's just sad!"

"And you Goldens think you're so much better than the rest of us!" Val chortled happily, raising his voice to the heavens as if the entire world would hear, "You want to know why they call you the Dragon Lords?  Because everyone's so afraid that you'll cry and destroy major cities if we call you anything less!"

"Tight ass, whipped, half-dead, cock-sucking, narrow-minded jackasses!" Gaav called.

"Arrogant, self-righteous, bootlicking, twisted, bigoted, little murderers!" echoed Val, cracking a precarious grin as his eyes met with Gaav's for only a second before they both exploded into wild hysterics.

Clear, raucous laughter relentlessly cleaved the cold darkness of the night as two outcasts and vagabonds, drunk and furious, were content for the moment just to sit beside each other on the roof of a tiny tavern and scream to the uncaring heavens, though neither heard the shattering glass as empty wine bottles rolled to their untimely demise upon the soil below, nor the voices from down inside that began to panic and wonder aloud where their master was.  Val felt blissfully released and liberated as he and Gaav laughed until neither could any longer and their throats protested violently the tremendous overuse, still sidled close into the unexpected warmth that radiated from the imposing form of the Mazoku, the notion that maybe he belonged more than he knew by his side registering faintly through the alcohol.

"I'm really glad you came up here," Val relented quietly.

"Yeah me too, you looked so… Pathetic, alone…  and I couldn't stand to see you like that!  You're a damn proud, strong, fearless Mazoku and I for one am proud to have you under me!" Gaav drawled in a pleasantly relaxed tone, snaking an arm stealthily around Val's waist and edging him closer.

"I'm proud to be under you too…" Val responded, pondering the statement only briefly before noting the tender arm around his body and gasping with the blush that rose in his cheeks.

"You know, I haven't felt this good in a long time," the flame-haired dragon whispered nostalgically, looking stoically into the distance that glowed along a dim blue horizon as a flushed and terrified looking Val watched his every move, "I myself never felt like I belonged anywhere.  It's why I fight, it's why I have to survive, but now I finally feel like I'm not so totally fucking alone anymore, you know?"

The demon dragon smiled and looked fondly back down to his servant, found his lost amber irises and looked intently and curiously into them as he ran a hand through his silky teal tresses lightly and rapidly, as if some divine being would suddenly see and strike him down for it.

"I used to know exactly how that felt," Val breathed reverently as his mind spun, though whether from exhilaration or drunkenness he was entirely unsure and unconcerned, while Gaav's gentle touch reverberated throughout his entire being and consciousness, "But it's been so long, I've already forgotten…"

"Good, so no more of this sulky crap, okay?" scolded Gaav amiably, to which Val smiled and nodded, unconsciously leaning closer to his master as an intoxicated sigh escaped his throat, "Gods you have such beautiful eyes…"

"Thank you…" Val muttered sheepishly, "And I've always loved your gorgeous long hair…  Can I…?  Can I touch it?"

Gaav grinned stupidly and nodded, euphorically closing his eyes as a deft, gentle hand and finger slid through his long, gleaming ruby tresses, stopping at the metal clasp which clinked softly against the terra cotta tiles as Val pulled his hand away.  It feigned a halt, and continued to encircle his waist tenderly as if it belonged there, and as Val edged closer to his master and Gaav felt a current of warm breath skate across his mouth, the two Mazoku found that they were holding each other quite tightly, and had never before been able to disappear and be allowed to simply feel that strongly.

"It's softer than you look…" Val whispered.

"I know, things aren't always what they seem…  Or at least, that's what everyone always says," Gaav answered, relishing the soft flutter of his lips just barely grazing Val's as he spoke.

"I know that one…  And I also heard one that… that was about… mirrors and eyes and souls, or something and…  Beauty is only-" the scarred creature mumbled idly against the wild demon dragon, but all breath, words and heart ceased simultaneously  with a small, tender kiss pressed delicately in place of ancient sayings on his lips.

Val was vaguely aware of a calloused palm and fingers caressing his cheek as they stayed kissing a fraction of an instant, then broke in a shadow of reluctance away, terrified to open his eyes lest he awaken to find nothing but an empty room and only the snarled, sweat-soaked sheets tangled across his abdomen in place of Gaav's strong arms.

"I think we've all heard that one, Val…" breathed Gaav, much to Val's relief a meager distance away.

"It's true though…  I think…" he replied, voice spilling softly from his soul unheard except for the dainty notes of sincerity.

"If it is then, is that why this feels so damn good?" ventured Gaav boldly.

"Maybe…  Did- Did you really just kiss me?" Val answered timidly, breath hitching in his throat as the end of Gaav's nose brushed his affectionately, and he almost felt the smile that accompanied it.

"Maybe…  And if I did?" came the wry answer.

"Then we'll have to do it again, so I believe it this time…" Val informed him with a grin, sliding open one eye presumptuously just in time to catch Gaav's before they too, closed again and after a moment suspended in mutual darkness astray, their lips met.

Gaav savored the entirely foreign sensation of the embrace that loosened comfortably around his waist as he held Val even more tightly than before, returning the second kiss that had swelled in passion and fervor from the first tentative one with everything he could.  Val's lips were warm and sweet against his, lithe, muscular body curled affectionately close, glittering teal tresses like cool liquid silk through his fingers, and as they broke hesitantly away from the passionate kiss and the horned Mazoku collapsed with a contented sigh against Gaav's chest, the infamous Demon Dragon King's cheeks felt a bit warmer and something quite foreign like hot needles pricked diligently inside his abdomen.

"Val I…" he murmured, clumsily kissing the top of his head and narrowly avoiding losing an eye on the horn, "I-I feel…  Well to be obscenely honest I don't know how I feel…  I don't think I've ever felt this way about anyone before…  I've never…  Never…"

Gaav trailed off, uncertain of how to continue and unnoticing, clutched Val's unusually limp and prostrate form to his body and buried his face in the fragrant sea-green locks that glinted as a bemused snort issued gutturally from Val's throat.

"Val…  I think I…" began the Dark Lord once again, stopping as a loud groan that gradually leveled out into a snore sounded through the former ancient's skull and into the quiet of the night.

"Val?" Gaav implored with an experimental jab with a finger to his forehead. 

Val, however, only reacted with the gravity as the light poke forced his flaccid body to slip entirely from Gaav's chest and into his lap, snoring loudly as a broad, oblivious grin crept stealthily across his sleeping lips and Gaav furiously suppressed a mounting violence.  He bristled vehemently for only a moment, until the blissfully unconscious creature shifted and turned toward him with a loving whisper of his name and the red-headed Dragon could not help but smile and sigh as he caressed Val's cheek.

"Night, Val…" he whispered at length, smirking fondly at him and easing him into a more comfortable position in his lap.

Gaav doubted if Val would remember the night's events when he awoke, but found he cared quite little, for the sun had just barely begun to rise and the sky still drifted a sheltering hue of ebon and charcoal with tiny shards of diamond glittering overhead framed on the arced horizon by a dim band of light.  The clamor from below them had quieted drastically, and all that remained was the occasional short outburst, shriek, or muffled, groggy ramblings that barely reached the Demon Dragon's ears as he perched, content to watch Val sleep peacefully and tacitly stroke his hair under the watch of the stars, night, and morning.  For it was still far after closing in the pilfered bar, the day was just as far from upon them, and it would more than likely be spent nursing hangovers Gaav grimly observed. At the same time, however, he duly noted that Val would certainly slumber for a few more hours at least, and though the taste of his lips lingered tauntingly upon his, was not the slightest bit inclined to stop him.

Owari!

Feedback is most greatly appreciated!  Flames will be fed to Gaav and used as a flamethrower to make cinnamon toast…


End file.
